Vanguard Magazine

I IN-HOUSE KNOWLEDGE 8 OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 www.vanguardcanada.com Meghan Spilka O'Keefe is a Senior Consultant in Procurement at Hill+Knowlton Strategies, a full-service govern- ment relations, communications and procurement firm. Meghan is the recipient of PR in Canada's Top 30 under 30, and has a strong background in defence procurement and public affairs. D uring the election, the Liberal Party of Canada has ex- plicitly stated their plan to immediately begin a process to draft a new Defence White Paper. Yet, the new Liberal government will face a number of outstanding commitments in the defence portfolio — some too far advanced to reconsider — that will demand leadership and close attention in order to ensure completion and delivery. Though there are plans to reassess defence policy, it is hard to imagine a military without floating ships or flying planes. So, if the new Minister of National Defence does move towards implement- ing the Report on Transformation and sharpening the Canadian Armed Forces' teeth, while shortening its tail, the Party will be forced to acknowledge some of the commitments made in the Ca- nadian First Defence Strategy (CFDS) that are already underway. All services have major equipment platforms that require re- placement, many of which are commitments first outlined in CFDS, including but not limited to: • Replacing the Royal Canadian Navy's (RCN) Iroquois and Hal- ifax-class destroyers and frigates through a common hull design via the Canadian Surface Combatant (CSC) program; • Replacing the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) Buffalo and Hercules fleets with a single fleet of FWSAR aircraft, replacing the C-18 fighter jets, and replacing the Aurora fleet of maritime patrol aircrafts, and developing a "system of systems" Arctic and maritime surveillance program, including new aircrafts, as well as unmanned platforms, satellites, replacing the North Warning system, and upgraded sensors; and, • Upgrading the Canadian Army's land combat vehicles and sys- tems, which originally involved the acquisition of new fleets for close combat, protected personnel transport, combat engineer- ing tasks and other land-specific capabilities. These commitments included expanding the size of the armed forces — Regular and Reserve — as well as improving National Defence infrastructure across Canada. Past Promises In a series of pre-election announcements, Harper's former cabi- net announced infrastructure investments to improve Armouries and Drill Halls for a number of Reserve regiments, while also committing during the federal election to expanding the size of the Reserve force including re-establishing a Yellowknife-based unit. These announcements were merely Conservative campaign promises. The Report on Transformation sought to find efficiencies in the structure of the Canadian Forces, and now that a Liberal gov- ernment has been elected, Trudeau and his new cabinet are not bound to follow-through on promises made by the Conservatives. Instead, the new Minister of National Defence will need to assess existing infrastructure and review what is in need of investment. Editor's Note: A similar article to the one below provided positioning for industry in the event of a minority government. That piece can be found on VanguardCanada.com. Moving Defence Procurement Forward in the 42nd Parliament The program to replace the CC-130 Hercules and CC-115 Buffalo likely will not change under Trudeau's Liberals. A CF-18 flies past the Hawaii shoreline during a RIMPAC exercise. The Liberal government has promised an open and transparent replacement program, but a timeline for choosing Canada's new fighter is not yet known.

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